(Sunday Paper, Volume III, Issue 33)

Listen, I'm not wishing away the rest of the summer.

But lately I find myself thinking a lot about the fall.

And since I'm going to have a couple more guest posts that will take us through Labor Day weekend - the unofficial end of summer - I thought maybe we would treat this week like they used to do on TV...(Maybe they still do this? Or they never did this? I'm pretty sure they used to do this.)

Let's take a sneak peek at what we have to look forward to on the fall calendar.

As you most likely know by now, I'm a creature of habit - I never, from my post-being-a-student days to my post-being-a-teacher days, stopped thinking of September as the start of a new year. That school calendar is engrained (ingrained?) in my brain.

It's a productive time for me - partly because with the kids starting school I get the chance to settle back into my usual routine, partly because I look at it as a starting point because of that new school year...and partly because as we enter the final third of the year I scramble to achieve whatever goals I set for myself before another new year begins for real.

And fall is just generally my favorite season. But this fall seems particularly exciting.

I'm excited about where I am in comedy - I have a couple of big shows coming up in the next couple of months and I've been doing a lot of writing and I am going to be working hard at it after taking most of August off from performing.

I'm excited about the upward progression of the freelance writing - that's in a great place. I've been doing a little bit of creative writing every day since the calendar turned to 2018, and I'm hopeful the fall will bring some inspiration in that department.

On a personal note, two of our daughters' birthdays are in the fall, so it's a busy time but it's celebratory, and that's nice. And we're having some work done here at the house that is really exciting. There are parts of our house that have made it feel, at least for me, that I am living in the house of someone else's vision. And Kathy and I have finally taken steps to make it something we want and that'll be happening this fall and by winter it should be done and having that done will give me a reason to look forward to the spring.

But for now, it's still summer, and that all is going to have to wait until we complete our one final summer trip.

And after you hear from a couple of other people, I'll be back to tell you all about this summer.

Because it's been a pretty great one.

What I've Been Enjoying

*A couple of years ago I read Sarah Vowell's 'The Partly-Cloudy Patriot' and I really enjoyed it and I made a mental note to read more of her books but hadn't done so...until this summer. When we were in North Carolina I read 'Lafayette In The Somewhat United States' and then last week I read 'Take The Cannoli (Stories From The New World)'. I loved them. If you listen to 'This American Life' you might be familiar with Vowell's work - and possibly many of the stories from 'Take the Cannoli'. Her stories mostly weave personal experience with American history and they're very entertaining. The Lafayette book was more narrative biography, I guess you'd call it...and it was interesting that I read it at a time when we were visiting Mount Vernon (did I tell you we did that? More on that in coming weeks.) and hearing about the relationship between Lafayette and George Washington there. Anyway, if you're looking for something to read, check out Sarah Vowell's stuff.

Notes

*Most people put out summer reading recommendations at the beginning of summer...I guess I'm doing mine at the end. Here are a couple of other books I read that I'd recommend: I could not put 'Ready Player One' down. And I didn't even relate to much of the '80s nostalgia featured in the book. I liked the book enough that I will probably look into the movie. The girls and I also read 'Bob', which was written by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead. It's a book for younger folks - middle grade-ish, maybe a little younger. I had never read anything by Mass, but I know my students always loved her books. And I love Rebecca Stead's work. ('When You Reach Me' is one of my favorites of all time, not just of what she's written, and I'd also encourage you to read 'Liar & Spy', if you're looking for some more recs.) 'Bob' was a really good story too. I read some really good stuff this summer.

*One more thing I'm looking forward to this fall: I was super excited at the beginning of this year to see the Mets play at Fenway Park in September, and things didn't quite shape up the way I expected...but I'm still looking forward to seeing my team at Fenway Park, something I think I've only done once before. I'll be going to two of the games, and one of them I'll be going with my dad, who I don't think I've ever had a chance to sit with at Fenway Park.

*And I'm also, as I mentioned last week, very excited about football season, despite my hope that my interest would wane. Partly I'm excited because the Jets have a quarterback unlike any other I've seen in my life as a fan, and partly I'm excited because I sure do love my football pools.

*I skipped the 'Writing' and 'Comedy' pieces above - I figured I covered that in the main part this week. Nothing much to update there - I'll have the fall dates on the calendar by September 1st, let's say.

*I'm also hoping I'll get back to posting more on the Facebook page this fall - it was fun when I was doing the birthday countdown and I'd like that to become the norm. 'Like' the page here, if you don't already, and of course you can also follow me on Twitter here. Thanks!